Really digging the song, but as I said for the last song, the mixing/production just sounds so sub-par it's annoying. Imagining this getting a proper recording/mastering is exciting. Hopeful for the future.

Well, first I have to admit that that statement was a bit hyperbolic, and it's really a matter of personal taste, but...

I think, more than anything, the thing that really turned me on to YMAEWK in the beginning was the masculine badassery and general awesomeness of the music compared to the majority of the bands in the genre. It was a breath of fresh air to hear someone singing about sluts being sluts, dumbass bimbos we use for sex, etc. and not the generic toolbox lyrics that have become ubiquitous in emo/pop-punk. It seems like this vibe of badassery was mostly missing on Some Things Don't Wash Out, and the sound on the album was oriented more towards YMAEWK'S female fanbase than previous releases. Though I still really liked the album, this perceived lack of what initially made me love YMAEWK disappointed me immensely and made it fall short of the first EP. Comparing a song like Dirty Laundry to, say, I'm Losing Weight for You or A Bigger Point of Pride, I personally get the impression that the music really lost some "balls" in terms of lyrics and overall sound.

The perfect analogy for this would be the progression of the Bemis and Say Anything; IARB obviously had kickass lyrics - possibly the best lyrics of any album in the genre. There was distinct, unabashed masculinity, and perhaps even misogyny, to the lyrics that I had never heard in the genre before. I never had to feel embarrassed for listening to the album in a car full of sausages. Even the most sentimental songs, like Alive with the Glory of Love for example, had a tone of badassery that kept the Bemis from entering toolbox territory. This tone was missing in 99% of pop/emo music at the time (and is still missing), and I think that (among other things, of course) it was what gave IARB a massive appeal to males that other emo albums never could muster, and it allowed SA to move beyond genre limitations to reach widespread acclaim among all audiences. Then, after IARB, there was a gradual but clear transformation as Bem-Dawg became more popular and self-assured (I assume that's the reason) and then we started getting songs like Shiksa (still one of my favorite SA songs regardless of the shitty chorus lyrics) and mother-fucking Crush'd. Now I love the self-titled, and i even think Crush'd is a quality song, but, starting with the self-titled, I really had to start making excuses with myself to like these songs and search for reasons to approve of the lyrics. SA started becoming as much of a guilty pleasure as bands like Cute Is What We Aim For or Mayday Parade. SA, I think, lost the universal appeal that was present in IARB and became more of a typical emo band.

Of course YMAEWK hasn't even approached the point that Bemis has reached, but the principle is the same, and it's what I was trying to allude to in my admittedly hyperbolic statement above. All of this might make me sound a bit misogynistic - certainly politically incorrect at least - and the uber-liberals on AP might pounce on me, but actually, I think that political incorrectness might have been exactly what appealed to me - YMAEWK wasn't afraid to write about wanting to fuck sluts or dicks out and pissing. It seems like now they might be afraid to offend (or just creep out) their female listeners.

Well, first I have to admit that that statement was a bit hyperbolic, and it's really a matter of personal taste, but...

I think, more than anything, the thing that really turned me on to YMAEWK in the beginning was the masculine badassery and general awesomeness of the music compared to the majority of the bands in the genre. It was a breath of fresh air to hear someone singing about sluts being sluts, dumbass bimbos we use for sex, etc. and not the generic toolbox lyrics that have become ubiquitous in emo/pop-punk. It seems like this vibe of badassery was mostly missing on Some Things Don't Wash Out, and the sound on the album was oriented more towards YMAEWK'S female fanbase than previous releases. Though I still really liked the album, this perceived lack of what initially made me love YMAEWK disappointed me immensely and made it fall short of the first EP. Comparing a song like Dirty Laundry to, say, I'm Losing Weight for You or A Bigger Point of Pride, I personally get the impression that the music really lost some "balls" in terms of lyrics and overall sound.

The perfect analogy for this would be the progression of the Bemis and Say Anything; IARB obviously had kickass lyrics - possibly the best lyrics of any album in the genre. There was distinct, unabashed masculinity, and perhaps even misogyny, to the lyrics that I had never heard in the genre before. I never had to feel embarrassed for listening to the album in a car full of sausages. Even the most sentimental songs, like Alive with the Glory of Love for example, had a tone of badassery that kept the Bemis from entering toolbox territory. This tone was missing in 99% of pop/emo music at the time (and is still missing), and I think that (among other things, of course) it was what gave IARB a massive appeal to males that other emo albums never could muster, and it allowed SA to move beyond genre limitations to reach widespread acclaim among all audiences. Then, after IARB, there was a gradual but clear transformation as Bem-Dawg became more popular and self-assured (I assume that's the reason) and then we started getting songs like Shiksa (still one of my favorite SA songs regardless of the shitty chorus lyrics) and mother-fucking Crush'd. Now I love the self-titled, and i even think Crush'd is a quality song, but, starting with the self-titled, I really had to start making excuses with myself to like these songs and search for reasons to approve of the lyrics. SA started becoming as much of a guilty pleasure as bands like Cute Is What We Aim For or Mayday Parade. SA, I think, lost the universal appeal that was present in IARB and became more of a typical emo band.

Of course YMAEWK hasn't even approached the point that Bemis has reached, but the principle is the same, and it's what I was trying to allude to in my admittedly hyperbolic statement above. All of this might make me sound a bit misogynistic - certainly politically incorrect at least - and the uber-liberals on AP might pounce on me, but actually, I think that political incorrectness might have been exactly what appealed to me - YMAEWK wasn't afraid to write about wanting to fuck sluts or dicks out and pissing. It seems like now they might be afraid to offend (or just creep out) their female listeners.

Well, first I have to admit that that statement was a bit hyperbolic, and it's really a matter of personal taste, but...

I think, more than anything, the thing that really turned me on to YMAEWK in the beginning was the masculine badassery and general awesomeness of the music compared to the majority of the bands in the genre. It was a breath of fresh air to hear someone singing about sluts being sluts, dumbass bimbos we use for sex, etc. and not the generic toolbox lyrics that have become ubiquitous in emo/pop-punk. It seems like this vibe of badassery was mostly missing on Some Things Don't Wash Out, and the sound on the album was oriented more towards YMAEWK'S female fanbase than previous releases. Though I still really liked the album, this perceived lack of what initially made me love YMAEWK disappointed me immensely and made it fall short of the first EP. Comparing a song like Dirty Laundry to, say, I'm Losing Weight for You or A Bigger Point of Pride, I personally get the impression that the music really lost some "balls" in terms of lyrics and overall sound.

The perfect analogy for this would be the progression of the Bemis and Say Anything; IARB obviously had kickass lyrics - possibly the best lyrics of any album in the genre. There was distinct, unabashed masculinity, and perhaps even misogyny, to the lyrics that I had never heard in the genre before. I never had to feel embarrassed for listening to the album in a car full of sausages. Even the most sentimental songs, like Alive with the Glory of Love for example, had a tone of badassery that kept the Bemis from entering toolbox territory. This tone was missing in 99% of pop/emo music at the time (and is still missing), and I think that (among other things, of course) it was what gave IARB a massive appeal to males that other emo albums never could muster, and it allowed SA to move beyond genre limitations to reach widespread acclaim among all audiences. Then, after IARB, there was a gradual but clear transformation as Bem-Dawg became more popular and self-assured (I assume that's the reason) and then we started getting songs like Shiksa (still one of my favorite SA songs regardless of the shitty chorus lyrics) and mother-fucking Crush'd. Now I love the self-titled, and i even think Crush'd is a quality song, but, starting with the self-titled, I really had to start making excuses with myself to like these songs and search for reasons to approve of the lyrics. SA started becoming as much of a guilty pleasure as bands like Cute Is What We Aim For or Mayday Parade. SA, I think, lost the universal appeal that was present in IARB and became more of a typical emo band.

Of course YMAEWK hasn't even approached the point that Bemis has reached, but the principle is the same, and it's what I was trying to allude to in my admittedly hyperbolic statement above. All of this might make me sound a bit misogynistic - certainly politically incorrect at least - and the uber-liberals on AP might pounce on me, but actually, I think that political incorrectness might have been exactly what appealed to me - YMAEWK wasn't afraid to write about wanting to fuck sluts or dicks out and pissing. It seems like now they might be afraid to offend (or just creep out) their female listeners.

I'm afraid you may have misinterpreted parts of those songs. The songs and lyrics you mentioned were admissions of guilt and very confessory in nature, not a celebration or pronouncement. I think the use of language has become better over the years, making it possible to save vulgarity for when it really needs to drive a point home. "more deserving of men left to rot in a rag" may be one of the grossest lines written in the band's discography but I think it's done in a smart way.

I was much more depressed, drunk, and angry about alot of things I didn't understand back then. You've obviously paid attention to the lyrical content and I think theres a clear path going from being entirely engulfed in a life of drinking, sleeping around, and depression in the 1st ep to there being a hint of inner reflection and questioning the way I was living on the 2nd, to me being clearly unhappy with myself and wanting to change myself but struggling with sticking to it and figuring out just how to do so. The 3rd was an unfortunate step backwards as my drinking and depression got alot worse in the winter of 2010-2011. We all know how that turned out.

I don't fault you for anything you've said. I don't consider myself a very bashful writer even now. I just moved on from that kind lifestyle. People grow, hopefully for the better. Thanks for listening man, I appreciate you putting so much thought into the response.

I'm afraid you may have misinterpreted parts of those songs. The songs and lyrics you mentioned were admissions of guilt and very confessory in nature, not a celebration or pronouncement. I think the use of language has become better over the years, making it possible to save vulgarity for when it really needs to drive a point home. "more deserving of men left to rot in a rag" may be one of the grossest lines written in the band's discography but I think it's done in a smart way.

I was much more depressed, drunk, and angry about alot of things I didn't understand back then. You've obviously paid attention to the lyrical content and I think theres a clear path going from being entirely engulfed in a life of drinking, sleeping around, and depression in the 1st ep to there being a hint of inner reflection and questioning the way I was living on the 2nd, to me being clearly unhappy with myself and wanting to change myself but struggling with sticking to it and figuring out just how to do so. The 3rd was an unfortunate step backwards as my drinking and depression got alot worse in the winter of 2010-2011. We all know how that turned out.

I don't fault you for anything you've said. I don't consider myself a very bashful writer even now. I just moved on from that kind lifestyle. People grow, hopefully for the better. Thanks for listening man, I appreciate you putting so much thought into the response.

Thanks so much for the response. It's great to hear your perspective. I forget (as many of us do) that there's an actual person behind a song's lyrics and music, and the song is a reflection of their actual lives and emotions; we often start talking about bands as if they're soulless machines meant to produce music according to our specifications. That sort of mindset, along with anonymity, leads to thoughtless comments like my initial one.

What I wrote definitely did make it sound like I was endorsing negative things like the exploitation of women or abuse of drugs or what have you, and that wasn't really what I meant (or maybe it was what I meant, and I would now like to retract those comments). What I was trying to say was that you were one of the few artists that sang about these sorts of things that many, many guys can relate to but most bands are afraid (?) to write about. You certainly weren't celebratory about a lot of it, and that was exactly what made it relatable; I and many others have used girls for sex, dealt with bouts of addiction, etc. and these things force us to have moral arguments with ourselves: We know such and such is wrong and usually makes us feel like shit, but we still continue to do it. This sort of dichotomy is even evident with me right here - above I was glorifying all these negative things, essentially, and saying that lyrics about such things are the only way to be acceptable to a male audience, while here I'm taking a much different perspective. Ultimately, what I mean to convey is that the first EP was really unique in addressing certain debauchery and moral quandaries commonly experienced by late-teen/early-20s males that are rarely mentioned in songs - especially in an emo genre that's so saturated with sappy garbage. So I guess I just wanted more of that subject matter since it really struck home (in a way very similar to IARB, I might add). At first I blamed the perceived lack of it on selling out, I guess, but I can see that that obviously wasn't the case. People change and the lyrics they write change; I had forgotten that. Thanks again for sharing your thoughts here! It's always great to see an artist cares enough to talk and discuss with fans (or critics). I'll go buy your EP in a moment as repayment!